


love is just an empty word you say

by aletterinthenameofsanity



Series: when it feels like the world's gone mad (dark stories) [36]
Category: Shadowhunters (TV)
Genre: Abusive Relationships, Character Study, Child Abuse, Control, Drabble, Emotional Manipulation, Emotional/Psychological Abuse, Gen, Magnus Bane Needs A Hug, POV Asmodeus, and trying to control his victim, look what Asmodeus did was a textbook case of emotional abuse, whoa creep vibes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-23
Updated: 2019-04-23
Packaged: 2020-01-24 08:23:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 563
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18567547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aletterinthenameofsanity/pseuds/aletterinthenameofsanity
Summary: There's a minor hitch to Asmodeus' plan.Magnus has always been a bit of a wild card. Erasing his memories of this Shadowhunter? No, no, no. If Magnus remembers being betrayed, if he remembers the fact that the one person he's let closest to his heart saw what was there and left- well, then, if Asmodeus tells him he loves him, he'll come all the more willingly.That was what he'd missed over the centuries: it was not just loneliness that was necessary to convince Magnus to come to Edom with him. Every time Magnus has come to Edom before, it has been with emotional walls and barriers, with an emotional distance, with a belief that there would always be someone, somewhere out there, that would love him, that would accept him. Now, though, he has been totally shown that the person who said they would stay with him left, that they saw what Magnus was like at his absolute worst and ran- well, this Magnus has been fully broken.





	love is just an empty word you say

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from "12 Through 15" by Mayday Parade.
> 
> This quick character study popped into my head while watching the final scene, and I banged it out in about half an hour. Hope it was any good!

_The greater a child’s terror, and the earlier it is experienced,_

_the harder it becomes to develop a strong and healthy sense of self._

**-Nathaniel Branden**

 

There are a number of ways to get your son back, and Asmodeus has tried nearly all of them over the centuries. Kidnapping, blackmail, coercion, isolation, etc. There's an infinite number of possibilities to try when you have eternity to work with, and though some of the failures irritate Asmodeus a little, they're like minor flies buzzing around a mundane- minor irritants at worst. Asmodeus knows that one day his son  _will_ rule Edom and then the world with him.

The one that works best, though, always seems to be hitting Magnus when he's at his lowest, when he's lost everyone he's cared about and who cares about him. Even the illusion of him being alone has sometimes nearly done the trick in the past, though he always eventually leaves.

Asmodeus thinks he's finally hit upon the perfect plan, though.

The chain of events lays out clearly in front of Asmodeus- as long as he can separate that meddlesome Shadowhunter from his son, then he can get Magnus back to his side.

The deal he makes with the Shadowhunter is almost painfully easy. Mundanes are so easy to manipulate, but Shadowhunters almost nearly so. A Shadowhunter ready to summon a demon, desperate enough to do whatever necessary in the name of "love"- well, those are the easiest in the world to manipulate. Getting Alec Lightwood to give up Magnus for Magnus' magic back- well, it's stupidly noble, and exactly what Asmodeus predicted would happen. Mortals do the absolute most idiotics things in the name of "love."

But then there's a minor hitch to Asmodeus' plan.

Magnus has always been a bit of a wild card. Erasing his memories of this Shadowhunter? No, no, no. If Magnus remembers being betrayed, if he remembers the fact that the one person he's let closest to his heart saw what was there and  _left_ \- well, then, if Asmodeus tells him he loves him, he'll come all the more willingly.

That was what he'd missed over the centuries: it was not just loneliness that was necessary to convince Magnus to come to Edom with him. Every time Magnus has come to Edom before, it has been with emotional walls and barriers, with an emotional distance, with a belief that there would always be someone, somewhere out there, that would love him, that would accept him. Now, though, he has been totally shown that the person who said they would stay with him  _left_ , that they saw what Magnus was like at his absolute worst and  _ran_ \- well, this Magnus has been fully broken.

Asmodeus convinces Magnus to keep his memories using half-truths and a dozen well-spun lies, and Magnus returns the beautiful, agonizing memories to his brain. He keeps the bittersweet and the anguished, and most of all, he keeps the linchpin memory of the break-up, where the Shadowhunter had done better than Asmodeus ever could have hoped at shattering his son.

And now Asmodeus has his son by his side, firmly in his grasp, and the two of them can take over everything together.

Asmodeus is going to watch the world Fall and burn, and his son will be with him every step of the way, just as it should be.


End file.
